4.03.2017

dimland radio 4-1-17 show notes

I Don't Believe The Universe Wanted Me To Get My 5 Bucks Back

I was able to be charitable the other day. An elderly woman in front of me in line at Popeye's realized she didn't have as much cash on hand as she had thought. She let me go ahead of her as she scanned the menu board to see what she could get for her four dollars.

Well, I had some cash, so, after I placed and paid for my order, I handed her five bucks.

A week after that my boss paid me back the $15 the company owed me. He gave me an extra five bucks. He was not and is still not aware of my charitable moment. There are those who believe the universe or their god wanted me to get repaid.

Well, I don't. It's just a coincidence.

But, I would sure like there to be a whole lot more coincidences from which I end up five bucks ahead.

Hint, hint, Universe!

The other part of the story was about her reaction. The cashier remarked about how nice the gesture was and the lady thanked me. Then she praised Jesus and remarked on how God is good about half a dozen or more times.

Yep. For those of you keeping track of the thank you's. That's one for the atheist and, at least, six for God.

I also mentioned this video of a metal worker showing how steel doesn't have to melt to lose its structural integrity.

Pedantic Moment: This Space Left Blank?

Our mortgage holder sent the notice that our escrow was short and our payments were going to increase. It was up to us: The amount could increase by $50 a month or $20. To get the smaller increase, we'd have to pay a certain amount by the end of March. Oh, joy.

I was preparing the payment and I looked at the back of the remittance slip. It was blank. Well, no it wasn't. It had the following sentence:

"(This space has been intentionally left blank.)"

Um. No, it hasn't.

I speculated how corporate think made that Pedantic Moment possible. I even did some acting.

She's a Democrat, so, of course, Republicans pushed back. One Republican Congressman, Rep. Tony Tinderholt, suggested Rep. Farrar take some high school biology classes. This is the same fellow who "proposed a bill that would charge abortion providers and women receiving abortions with murder."

I speculated on the possibility that Rep. Tinderholt isn't on board with the science of evolution. Perhaps he, too, would benefit from taking a few high school biology classes.

I also did a little calculating. If Texas could somehow enforce the $100 fine, and if we assume that the average number of times of self-abuse (or love, depends on how you look at it) per man is one a day, and if we just go with males ages 15 - 69, the number I came up with is pretty big. I calculated the amount of the fines per year would be close to $300 billion dollars! The state budget for Texas for 2016/2017 is approximately $210 billion.

She may be on to something, Rep. Tinderholt!

Apparently, The All-Knowing God Can Be Fooled

If you listen to the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe (SGU), as I do, and you are up-to-date on the shows, as I am, then you would have heard guest "rogue" comic Joshie Berger. Joshie was raised in a very strict Jewish community and had to live by all those very strict rules.

Joshie eventually became an atheist.

When he appears on the SGU, he takes over the Science Or Fiction segment with his Jewie Or Fiction. He picks true items demonstrating the crazy rules some in the Jewish community live under. Two are real, one in fiction.

Those that practice the strict rules have come up with a loophole that, seems to, fool God. One of the real rules has to do with not having any bread in the house during Passover. The Jewish family can't be certain to get rid of every crumb, so a Goy (a non-Jewish person) is contracted to buy the ownership of all bread in the Jewish household. The beard and bread products are not removed, they just are owned by a Goy.

That way if God should drop by during Passover and sees bread, the homeowner can say it's not their bread. And God's fooled by that.